We are family
by melles
Summary: Missing scene for 5x02. Neal doesn't show up for work…Agent Seigel doesn't know what to do…Peter doesn't believe his eyes…


**Title:** We are family  
**Characters/Pairing:** Neal, Peter, Diana, Mozzie  
**Word count:** 2.200  
**Warnings:** SPOILERS for 5x02  
**Notes:** I just couldn't resist...as always, Rainey13 did a wonderful job being my beta. You are one of a kind! Thank you!  
**Summary:** Missing scene for 5x02. Neal doesn't show up for work…Agent Seigel doesn't know what to do…Peter doesn't believe his eyes…

**We are family**  
(a missing scene from 5.02)

It still felt somehow strange sitting in this office. Being the one who assigned tasks to agents and not being the agent who got assigned to a task. He was used to giving orders to his team, but now…if he made the wrong decisions, the whole unit was going to suffer under serious consequences. But wasn't this the job he longed for in the first place? It was still early and there weren't that many employees around at this time. He liked this time of day, since he was able to work without any distractions. As if on cue, he was interrupted in his thoughts as he saw Agent David Seigel approaching the bull pen.

Alone.

Peter frowned. His cell phone beeped, indicating he just had received a message. Picking it up, he saw that it was from Neal. But he didn't check it right away but continued to work on the papers in front of him. He wasn't Neal's handler anymore. He had other things to do.

Seigel climbed up the stairs, holding a brown folder in his hands. He knocked on the office door.

"Come in," Peter said and put away a few papers.

"Good morning, sir," Seigel nodded and stepped in.

"Good morning," Peter replied and looked at him. "David. What can I do for you?"

Seigel seemed unsure and cleared his throat. "I just wanted your opinion."

Peter pointed to the folder. "Sure. What case is it?"

"It's not a case actually. It's Neal."

Immediately his pulse rate quickened and he straightened his back, expecting the worse. "What did he do?"

"It's nothing he did. He's sick. Sent me a text message around 6.45. I checked his anklet and he was in fact at the hospital last night or this morning around 2.30 to be more accurate. I tried to call him, but couldn't reach him. Then I called the hospital, but they didn't have any files about him that prove that he was treated there," Seigel explained with an unreadable expression on his face. "According to the GPS data, he's at this address." He showed him a small note. "But this isn't making any sense."

Seeing the address, Peter took a deep breath. His gut told him that something was wrong. And he usually could rely on this gut detector. But still he was confused. Of course one could get sick. But Neal? For almost four years they had been working together and in that time Neal had never called in sick. Suddenly he remembered the text message and picked up the cell phone.

_I am sick. Can't come to work. Talk to you later. Neal_

Hitting speed dial, he waited, but his call went directly to Neal's voice mail. Why didn't he answer the phone? Drumming his fingers on the desk, Peter thought about what to do. He didn't want to go behind Neal's back. He trusted him. Sort of. Letting out a deep breath, he leaned back and looked through the large glass walls down the bullpen where Neal was supposed to sit behind his desk. Peter narrowed his eyes and considered the available options.

"Sir? Any suggestions? Should I go after him?"

Looking at Seigel, Peter said, "I'll take it from here."

Seigel hesitated briefly, but then nodded and left the room.

Peter closed his eyes for a moment. He took the cell phone and looked at it. The marshals hadn't called him so far. That meant neither the tracking anklet had been cracked nor had Neal overstepped his radius. It took only seconds to start the app and type in the necessary information. Although he had already been informed by Seigel, he couldn't believe his eyes after the GPS data popped up on the display. Sighing, he stood up and grabbed his jacket on his way out of the office. Now, his curiosity had won over his rationality.

…

Still not wanting to believe the GPS data, and still trying to figure out why Neal would be located on this particular spot, Peter got out of his car. This wasn't making any sense. Had Neal once again tampered with the anklet? Or did the electronic device malfunction? Sure, according to the marshals it was accurate up to a few yards. But still…He pushed the door bell and took a step back while he waited. He could hear footsteps and the movement of the door chain and was about to greet. "Good morning Di-" His jaw dropped and he blinked a few times. Somehow he had expected to be proven wrong, but now he had the confirmation that the anklet was working just fine. "Neal?!"

"Shhh," Neal hushed and put the index finger on his lips. He looked back over his shoulder and seemed to listen observantly. Then he turned around again. "Peter. What are you doing here?" he whispered.

It was then when Peter noticed, that Neal was barefoot and only wearing grey jogging pants and a white undershirt. And how exhausted he looked. His face was pale and stood in contrast with his dark stubbles. His hair was messy and his eyes were bloodshot like he didn't get any sleep last night. But this couldn't be. "The better question should be - What are YOU doing here?" Peter asked after he had found some composure again. He took out his cell phone and showed Neal the text message. "You don't look sick. Exhausted, yes. But sick? No. How about an explanation?"

"I didn't leave my radius," Neal answered quietly.

"I didn't ask about that," Peter insisted and tried to get a better view from the apartment. "Where's Diana?"

"She's sleeping."

"And? Do I get my explanation or do I have to get tough?"

Neal sighed and stepped aside so that Peter could enter. "Please be as quiet as possible, okay? I don't want you to wake them up."

Things became only more mysterious. "Neal." He looked at him with his patented "don't-mess-with-me" expression. Without wanting it, he began to search the area which looked very chaotic. He was surprised by this fact, because he hadn't expected such a behavior from Diana. He watched Neal, who led the way and picked up some clothes which he threw on top of a big heap.

"I was about to clean the kitchen," Neal said and yawned. "Coffee?"

"No, thanks," Peter replied and noticed that he grew impatiently with each minute passing by. He put his hands on his hips.

It was like Neal had read his thoughts because he continued, "I'm sorry that I didn't call you right away, but this morning was a little bit…messy." He grabbed a cup and took a sip.

"You were in the hospital," Peter said bluntly. "But why you are here anyway? And the message from you about being sick? This doesn't make sense. I tried to call you. Agent Seigel tried to call you."

"I put the cell phone on mute," Neal explained quickly. "And I couldn't think of anything else to say because-"

Peter interrupted him. "Saying the truth would have been a very good option."

"Because I wasn't sure if I could get a day off because of this," Neal said like he didn't hear Peter. Then he gestured towards the living room. "Why don't we sit down?"

Even though Peter didn't want to stay for long, he was curious for the things to come. "I'm all ears."

Again, Neal sighed. "Actually, I just wanted to stop by yesterday evening to repair something in the nursery. But then…all hell broke loose. Theo had colic and didn't stop crying. Diana was - is - very exhausted and I couldn't leave them alone. We ended up in the ER, because we didn't know what to do. After we came back I took over the night shift and took care of the little one while Diana tried to get some sleep."

First, Peter didn't know what to respond. "You took care of Theo?" Today was full of surprises, so much was sure. "He's alright?"

"He is now," Neal let out a breath of relief. "After he finally drifted off to sleep, I took care of the laundry as well. Diana didn't get much sleep these days and…," he shrugged while he obviously tried to find the right words, "…well, I know how it is, how it feels to have to handle everything on your own. Especially if you are trying to raise a kid. She lost track of some things and I wanted to help." He was silent for a moment before he added, "It needs some time to get adjusted to this new situation. Diana is a wonderful mother and all she needs is a little help from her friends."

"It seems that you handled everything well, Neal," Peter admitted and was stunned about the big responsibility showed by Neal. But thinking it over, it fitted Neal. He was very loyal towards his friends. "But you just could have talked to me. It wouldn't have been a problem at all to give you the day off."

"I didn't want to cause you or Agent Seigel any trouble," Neal answered quietly. "And to be honest, I didn't expect to stay overnight. Everything came pretty surprisingly."

Peter nodded and had to think about how he had talked about the team being one big family not so long ago and his statement was proven right. He felt proud to be a part of this family and he was sure that Neal thought the same. "I should be going…otherwise Jones might get into mischief." He stood up.

Neal did the same und wanted to say something, but held up his hand and listened. "Oh-uh. The little monster is awake," he grinned. "I should look out for him, before Diana wakes up."

"Too late."

Both turned around and Peter couldn't help to grin at the sight. Seeing Diana….like this was very unlikely. The usually resolute and composed woman didn't have anything in common with the woman standing right in front of them. Her long hair was uncombed and like Neal she was wearing jogging pants and an additional faded T-Shirt. If he hadn't known better, he would have thought of her as a disheveled woman who had lost track of her life and apartment.

Neal approached her. "I'll look after Theo. Breakfast is ready in a bit. You'll find tea in the Thermos bottle," he winked at her as he walked by.

"Good morning, boss," Diana said and smiled slightly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was nearby," Peter said and grinned.

"You were looking for Neal," Diana replied unimpressed and filled her cup. Then she frowned. "But…didn't he call you?"

"Going after Neal is my life task. And by the looks of it I was successful. Again." He checked his watch. "Uhm, yeah he contacted me. Told me he is sick."

Diana went towards him. "Oh, I didn't know. I thought he would…yeah, well…I'm sorry that you had to come here. It's not that I'm not glad to see you, but-" She sounded a bit desperate when she gestured around the room and sighed.

"No need to worry," Peter shook his head. "All that matters is that the little one is doing better. Neal told me about last night."

"He was my knight in shining armor," she answered and sighed once more. This time she seemed to be relieved. "He has helped me tremendously the last weeks. I don't know how I can thank him enough for what he did."

Peter raised an eyebrow. Now that she mentioned it, he noticed that Neal had often been exhausted in the mornings after Theo had been born. He felt somehow stupid right now.

"He painted the nursery and even bought a new crib because he said the old one wasn't good enough. Even Mozzie came by from time to time and brought tons of plush toys." She rolled her eyes but she didn't seem to be upset. More like amused.

"I'm taking an educated guess here, but I think someone is very hungry," Neal said and carried the infant in his arms.

Diana smiled at the sight and said to Peter, "I guess that's my part."

"I don't want to disturb." With a last glance back at Neal who carefully put the baby into Diana's arms, Peter nodded satisfied and went towards the front door. But he turned around once more. "Oh, and Neal? You are supposed to come back only when you're up to 100% again."

Immediately the younger man coughed and put a hand on his throat. "Yeah, I think I could use a few more days at home. The nasty cold isn't completely gone."

After Peter had opened the door, Mozzie went past him.

"Suit." Nodding, Mozzie strolled into the apartment, looking at Peter only briefly.

For a moment Peter didn't move and just watched the odd man.

Mozzie held a brown paper bag and started to unpack it in the kitchen.

Neal eyed the contents critically and both men promptly started a heated discussion about homemade baby food, the right choice of color for playsuits and the necessity of permanent surveillance via baby phone.

Apparently Diana was in good hands and Theo even more. The two surrogate fathers were fully engulfed in their task, although Peter doubted that it would do Theo's mental state any good to leave him in Mozzie's care. But despite that he was sure that everything would turn out just fine, because the whole team would be supporting Diana. Starting today, he would make sure to stop by after work to help out whenever his help was needed. Yeah, they were one big family indeed.

END


End file.
